But this sort of assertion
I do not like to admit without trying it a little. I want,
therefore, to get some plain notion of the Norman habit and genius,
as I have sought to get some plain notion of the Saxon and Celtic.
Some people will say that the Normans are Teutonic, and that
therefore the distinguishing characters of the German genius must be
those of their genius also; but the matter cannot be settled in this
speedy fashion. No doubt the basis of the Norman race is Teutonic;
but the governing point in the history of the Norman race,--so far,
at least, as we English have to do with it,--is not its Teutonic
origin, but its Latin civilisation. The French people have, as I
have already remarked, an undoubtedly Celtic basis, yet so decisive
in its effect upon a nation's habit and character can be the contact
with a stronger civilisation, that Gaul, without changing the basis
of her blood, became, for all practical intents and purposes, a Latin
country, France and not Ireland, through the Roman conquest.
Latinism conquered Celtism in her, as it also conquered the Germanism
imported by the Frankish and other invasions; Celtism is, however, I
need not say, everywhere manifest still in the French nation; even
Germanism is distinctly traceable in it, as any one who attentively
compares the French with other Latin races will see.
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